OptiPlex 7070 Micro vs OptiPlex 7080 Micro
Is the OptiPlex 7080 Micro worth the upgrade over the OptiPlex 7070 Micro? The differences that matter for a home server:
- OptiPlex 7080 Micro has 2 M.2 NVMe slots; OptiPlex 7070 Micro has 1. That matters for ZFS mirrors or separating boot and VM storage.
- OptiPlex 7080 Micro can take a PCIe card (PCIe (dGPU option)); OptiPlex 7070 Micro cannot. Choose OptiPlex 7080 Micro for a router, 10GbE or an HBA.
- OptiPlex 7080 Micro has a built-in path to a second network port (Half-height PCIe x8 slot (Dell lists it for discrete graphics)); on OptiPlex 7070 Micro you would need a USB adapter.
- OptiPlex 7080 Micro officially supports 64 GB of RAM versus 32 GB, useful if you plan several VMs.
- The top CPU option in OptiPlex 7080 Micro has 16 threads versus 8 in OptiPlex 7070 Micro.
Full spec comparison
| Spec | OptiPlex 7070 Micro | OptiPlex 7080 Micro |
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2019 | 2020 |
| CPU generations | 9th gen (Coffee Lake Refresh) | 10th gen (Comet Lake) |
| Most threads | 8 | 16 |
| Chipset | Q370 | Q470 |
| Memory type | DDR4-2666 | DDR4-2933 |
| Max RAM (official) | 32 GB | 64 GB |
| M.2 NVMe slots | 1 | 2 |
| 2.5" bays | 1 | 1 |
| PCIe expansion | None | PCIe (dGPU option) |
| Onboard NIC | Intel I219-LM | Intel I219-LM |
| Second NIC option | USB only | Half-height PCIe x8 slot (Dell lists it for discrete graphics) |
| 2.5/10GbE path | USB only | USB only |
| AV1 decode | No | No |
| Transcoding | Good for 4K HEVC; no AV1 decode | Good for 4K HEVC; no AV1 decode |
| Idle power (measured) | about 13 W at the wall (ServeTheHome, Six-core Core i5-9500T ("just over 13 W")) | Not measured yet |
| Spec confidence | Widely confirmed | Widely confirmed |
Which one for which job
OptiPlex 7070 Micro
Upgrades: 2× DDR4-2666 SODIMM (max 32 GB official), 1× M.2 2280 NVMe + 1× 2.5" SATA.
OptiPlex 7080 Micro
- Two NVMe slots
- PCIe slot
- 64 GB RAM (official)
- Plex / Jellyfin 4K
- Proxmox node
- OPNsense / pfSense router
- vPro / AMT
Upgrades: 2× DDR4-2933 SODIMM (max 64 GB official), 2× M.2 2280 NVMe + 1× 2.5" SATA, Half-height PCIe x8 slot (Dell lists it for discrete graphics).
OptiPlex 7070 Micro detailsOptiPlex 7080 Micro details
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